June 5 arraignment set for Gitmo 9/11 suspects

MIAMI — The chief judge of the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, war court has set June 5 for the first court appearances of reputed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four suspected conspirators.

The judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, notified military defense attorneys by e-mail Wednesday that he would preside over the case. He scheduled arraignment of the five men at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

It was unclear whether the date would hold. Kohlmann told the lawyers to let him know if they sought delay.

At least one of the five accused in the Sept. 11 conspiracy has not yet seen an attorney, said Army Col. Steve David, chief defense counsel.

"He's set them for arraignment," said David, who in civilian life is an Indiana judge. "So absent a motion for continuance and a favorable ruling, there will be an arraignment then."

Arraignment is the formal reading of charges, with the accused and his attorneys in court, in this instance accusing the five men of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. It is the first capital case to go before a commission.

By military-commissions rules, an accused must go before a war-court judge within 30 days of approval and service of charges, unless the defense seeks and gets a delay.